In the eighteenth century, the aristocracy traveled to Europe with all the comforts of home. They took their servants and clothing along with things like pots and pans and teapots. I’m not sure what they packed their luggage inside, but I know it traveled separately in a different coach, often with the servants.
A few years ago when hubby and I were off on our overseas adventure we had a large backpack each. They were the frameless kind, which made them easier to pack in trucks during our epic land adventures and we could stow away the back straps so they didn’t tangle. Since our holidays were for months at a time our packs were crammed to capacity and they were heavy. I remember walking from the bus stop to the Youth hostel in Seattle and arriving in a hot sweat and exhausted. Lugging our packs through airports was also hard work. Sometimes our luggage was slightly overweight and it’s a real technique to walk toward the luggage check-in counter without staggering or groaning at the weight. We must have done okay because, to date, we haven’t needed to pay for excess baggage.
As we’ve grown older, our holidays have changed. Sometimes we stay at nice hotels and suitcases with wheels have replaced our backpacks. It’s so much easier wheeling a bag! Before our last holiday hubby bought two duffel type bags (the ones that look like sports bags) with wheels. I much prefer wheeling to toting a heavy pack!
For weekends away, we tend to use smaller size backpacks or duffel-type bags. We roll most of our clothing and these bags work well with this technique.
The progression in luggage is interesting. We still have our old backpacks but we don’t use them as much. The zips are temperamental after all the African dust for a start!
What sort of bags/luggage do you have? And just out of curiosity–have you have needed to pay excess baggage fees?
